Spring suspension for vehicles



July 17, 1928. 1,677,676

H. w. HYDE SPRING SUSPENSION FR 4VEHICLES Filed Aug. 17. 1923 PatentedJuly 17, v1928.

A UNITED STA-TES PATENT Cinner,y

HENRY WEBB HYDECE NORTH CCHASSET, MASSACI'TUSETTS,` ASSIGNCR To HYDEEN-i GINEERING COMPANY, 0E BOSTON, iviAssAcimsETTs,` A vCorniwizATioN CEMASSA- CHUSETTS.

SPRING SUSPENSICN'EOR VEHICLES.'v

Application inea Augustv 17211923.' ser'iai Nb. 657,990."

437, of which the present case is a division in part and with respect tosuch' Subject matter as it has in common therewith,

As explained in said prior application, Vthe invention disclosed thereinconsists primarily i longitudinal infproviding thek vehicle with springsor ,springv reaches connected at their ends, either directlyorindirectly, witli'the axles, and in supporting the bodyon'the springreaches intermediate the .ends of the latter in such amanner as to,permitl said body to rock freely, with respect to and in dependently ofthe reaches,"upon a horizontal, transverselaxis,

ment of eitherrtheffront or rear wheels and the 'a'Xle carried thereby,will notbe transvor pitch the n n by rocking about its axis with respectto the reaches, tov maintain its substantially/hori- Zontal position,its only movementrbeing a slight vertical one in a substantiallyrectilinear direction. K f

The present spring suspensiomof the type above referred to, which isparticularlyadapted for vehicles, The present `i n' vention has,therefore,'forV itsobject to pro! P vide-'a Construction Ywhereincertain points of in which the load varies.

interengageinent between` the rcooperating y parts, and particularly theaXisabout which lthe body rocks with 'respect to the reaches,

will be automatically variedl asfthe loadlfof` the vehicle varies inorder to preserve .the g y member and front wheelreceive the major roperbalance between the parts.

understood from the followingdescription of certain forms lorembodiments thereof illiistrated .in the -accompanying drawings.

f ,It is to be understood, however, that the'par-hl,ticularconstructions described andlv Shown',

so that tilting or rocking l of the reaches, caused byv a vertical-move`."spi'ings,v the Springsfare,`-in eect rigidly Se- A cnredrto thebodyor frame,-and-any Sho'c'kf ,f i niitted to the bodyand will notv*tend to.- tip same,ysaid body being permitted, I

case `relates to avforin of have been chosen yfor illustrative purposess merely, and that the invention, las defined The principle ofvoperation of a spring sus# pension'oftliepgeneral type of that tolwhich the present case rel'atesfisl fully explained in my prior patent'above referred to'. Forthe y purpfiwsesgof the present descriptionvthis principle may be briellyoutlined j as 'Ufol- F ig. 1 illusby theclaims hereunto appended, maybe l otherwise practicedwithoutdeparturefrom In the ordinary vehicle,whether 4provided l withelliptical, Semi-ellipticah'or cantilever or blow'on` a wheel, due tounevenesfsfin the road, 4which causes the'wheelto rise or fall suddenly,is communicated' directlv tothelbody. Q y :1

In 'the type 'of spring suspension 'to which the present inventionrelates, Ionthe conabout the pivot afforded r'by theifockeron which thebodyfissuppo'rted, but not to rock the body. It thus-tends to swing vthereark yend fof the reach' and rear axle downward v about the pivot, sothat the chief effecty of ther blow isv vabsorbedv by the rear Spring'and pneumatic-tire on the rear wheel. Likewise',

- trary,v'if the frontfwheel,forl exam'ple,be raised, owing to anunevenness in the road,

when y,the `rear wheel goes overfan obstruction or drops into a hole,the front Spring partofitli'e reaction and the body is'ai'ectedY sult ofthe rocking of the reaches, is applied-r to they body Siibstantiallythroughthe lcenter of .gravity thereof, so that; there Zis Inolrgyratory force.actingv yuponA ltlie ybody ecceny the body is merely tolift the pivot, and consequently the body, vertically to a slightextent, and not to rock said body from front to baclr` so that the bodyis not given any pitching motion. The action described is 'permitted bythe pivotal or rocking connection between the body and the springreaches. If there were a rigid connection at this point, the blow wouldgive the body an entirely different movement and would not be absorbedby the opposite end of the spring reach.

Referring now to the drawings, in Figures 1 and 2 is shown a springsuspensionv comprising a pair of spring reaches to which the body frameris connected by meansof a movable fulcrum, so that the point ofapplication of the load on the `spring reaches can vary lengthwise ofthe vehicle as the distribution of the load varies. Said spring reachesare composed of beams 11 having leaf spring-extensions 12 and 13 attheir forward and rearl ends, respectively. The extensions 12 aresecured by bolts '14 to the frontaxle- 15, while the extensions 13.arepivoted at 16 to hangers 17 on the rear axle 18. The body 10 issupported on the beams 11 by means of rockers 19 which rest in and havea rollingV engagement with U- shaped troughs 2O carried by said beams.-

The rockers 19 afford a movable fulcrum or axis tending automatically tomove toward -that end of the vehicle which is most heavily loaded,l andconsequently tending to maintain itself beneath the center of gravityyof the body, so that said body is permitted to maintain its balancedposition by Aits inertia;irrespective of the rocking of the reachesunder inequalities inthe road, as vabove explained.

In Figure 3 there is shown a modification of the construction abovedescribed. As shown in this figure, the body frame is provided withrockers 31 which are received in U-shaped troughs 32, carried by beams33, which. as in the form ofthe invention. first described, are providedwith front and rear spring extensions 34 and 35 to constitute springreaches of the character above referred to. Also, as in the form of theinvention shown in Figures 1 and 2,.,the forward ends of the forwardspring extensions 34 are secured by bolts 36 to the front axle 37 but inthis form of the invention the rear spring extensions 35 are notdirectly supported by the rear axle 38, but are connected -by rshackles39 with the forward ends of semi-elliptical springs 110 supported byhangers 4:1 from said rear axle. The forward ends of said springs 10,constitute extensions of the spring reaches, connecting the latter withthe axle, while the rear. ends of said springs 4 0, `at the oppositeside of the axle 3Q. are connected by shackles 4:2 with the rear end ofthe body frame 30. The operation of the rockers 31 is substantially thesame as that of the. rockers 19 above described, but

in this form of the invention said rockers 31 patent, above referred to.to balance theL forcesv about the center of gravity of the body when therear axle is raised. It will also be seen that when the front axle 37 israised, tending to raise the forward end of the body, the springreaches, rocking upon,

the body, will, through the springs 40 acting as levers fulcrumed uponthe rear axlel 38, tend to lift the rear end of they body also, n

thereby preventing pitching of the latter in accordance with theprinciples more fully explained in another application, filed May 28.1923, Serial No. 641,933.

The accompanying drawings are largely diagrammatic and arel designed toillustrate the essential principles of the spring system and itsrelation to the frame without confusion by non-essential details orfeaturesthemselves well known in theart. Thus, no means are shown forholding the spring system and frame against relative longitudinalmovement o r for taking the driving torque, as these parts may be of anyusualorl` well known construction. vFor example, the

form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 and Qis designed primarily lforuse with Ford cars,` in which case the requirements in question aretaken care of'by the usual wishbone construction. In other cars, thesestresses .are taken by the usual ltorque tubes or equivalent elements,as willbe familiar to those'skill'ed in the art. i i p In thisspecification, the phrase spring reaches is employed as a comprehensiveterm to denote longitudinal members through which the body is supportedfrom the axles and composed wholly or in part of springs. The term,therefore, is to be taken as including a unitary spring as well as areach composed of a substantiallyv rigid beam to the ends of which areattached springs. -It will be understood that when the spring reach isconstructed as last described, and as herein shown, the connectionbetween the beam andl the springs is a rigid one in the sense that thereis no pivotal or other movable connection at this point.

The wordsrear, front, and similar expressions are herein used asconvenient illustrative terms, it being obvious that, although theconstruction shown is preferred for. most purposes, the suspension.might be oppositely disposed. These and other modifications of theconstruction shown will, however, be readily apparent to those skilledin the art without further description in detail.

`What I claim is y l. A spring suspension for motor vehicles including apair of spring reaches each of which comprises a substantially rigidbeam having spring extensions rigidly connected thereto and connectedrespectively with the front and rear axles of the vehicle, and rockerssecured to the body and having rolling yengagement upon said. beams.

2. A spring suspension for motor vehicles including a pair of springreaches connected at their opposite ends with the axles, and aconnection between said reaches and the body upon which the latter isfree to rock relatively to the former about a transverse axis whichmoves longitudinally of the vehicle coincidentally with the relativerocking movement of saidparts.

3. A 4spring suspension for motor vehicles comprising a pair of springvreaches connected at their opposite ends with the axles and avconnection between said reaches and the body upon which the latter isfree toy HENRY WEBB HYDE.

